Did you Miss Me?

Summary: Kara thinks she's seen the last of her bully after she passes away. Little does she know that the dead can return through the things she uses the most.

Did you Miss Me?

Originally featured in Empire Times (42.9)

Kara Hammond smirked as she read the online article.
Good riddance to her.

It
was about Abbey Page, a girl from her uni class who had recently committed
suicide. The journalist had described Abbey as another innocent victim of cyberbullying.
Kara, however, knew of the evil behind those sapphire eyes and blonde curls. They
had once been friends - back in first year, and before Kara stole Abbey’s crush.
Abbey had constantly called Kara a sweaty nerd with shit for brains because of
her interest in gaming.

Kara tried to fight back, but
Abbey’s friends always got involved and made the bullying worse. Going to the
authorities didn’t help either; Abbey would put on a sweet face around the
counsellors and turn it back onto Kara.

Annoyed
with the lack of action, Kara turned to her followers on Tumblr and Twitter and
told them about the bullying. She bent the truth to her liking and included
some of Abbey’s wall-posts as evidence. Within three days, Abbey had received thousands
of posts on her Tumblr and Twitter accounts, all of which condemned her for
bullying. Kara believed it was those death threats from internet trolls that eventually
drove Abbey to suicide. It might’ve been a little extreme, but at least Abbey
would never bother her again.

Kara
clicked out of the article and decided to play a game to wind down. It’d
certainly be more relaxing than turning around to watch the rest of Flight of the Conchords, which she’d
seen a thousand times before.

A pop from the Steam messenger
came through her headphones as she was in midst of Cities: Skylines. She ignored it and continued to play. Another pop
came through, this time from Facebook. Again, she ignored it. A pop from Skype
soon followed. Kara’s eyebrows twitched; the pops were interfering with her
creativity. She left her game, and opened the Steam messenger. What she read made
ice spikes shoot through her blood vessels.

The
message was from a Steam account she thought would never appear again; Abbey’s.

Did
you miss me?

‘No,’
said Kara, ‘it can’t be her.’

She
left the Steam messenger and went to Facebook. Again the message was from Abbey’s
account.

Did
you miss me?

Kara
shivered. ‘It can’t be her.’

She
checked Skype. It was Abbey again. The same four words.

Kara’s
hands shook as she responded. This has to
be some kind of sick joke.

A
reply was almost instant. It came through all her open messengers.

Oh
but it’s not.

How
could Abbey be doing this? Kara bit her fingers and tasted blood. Abbey was
dead, she couldn’t possibly be communicating with her.

Did
you miss me, Kara?

Kara
broke into a cold sweat. This reply was more personal than the earlier ones.
She still believed that this was all some sick joke, probably being played on
by one of Abbey’s brothers or friends. Or was it a ghost within the internet?
She didn’t believe that Abbey was haunting her beyond the grave through the web.
Such a thing was impossible.

The
messengers popped again: the same question came up again. As was the next, and
the next. Soon Kara could hear nothing but notification pops.

Kara
tore off the headphones and did a hard shutdown on her computer. The pops
stopped and she was left in peace. She took a deep breath. It would be a while
before she even thought about turning it on again.

‘You’re
going to have to try harder than that to stop me.’ Abbey’s voice came from
behind her.

Kara broke into gooseflesh and resisted
the urge to turn around.

Abbey
spoke again. ‘Oi, shit for brains, behind you.’

Still
she resisted. She could picture Abbey’s face inside her TV, glaring at her with
those sapphire eyes.

Abbey’s
face appeared in the computer screen.

Kara’s
eyes widened. Abbey’s lower lip was gone, as was some of the skin on her
forehead. Worms and bugs emerged from the gaping mess of skin, muscle, and
tendons that were once her cheeks.

Abbey
gave a crooked smile. ‘Did you really think switching off your computer would
stop me from getting to you? You really are a stupid nerd.’

‘You’re
not real,’ said Kara. ‘You’re just my mind playing tricks on me.’

‘Am
I now? So it’s just your head doing this?’

The
notifications returned even with the computer switched off. Kara wondered where
they were coming from? Her SMS ringtone started going off. The cacophony felt
like someone was drilling at her brain.

Abbey
shook her head. ‘You know what? I feel that there aren’t enough messengers
going off. Maybe I should add in your Xbox as well.’

The
Xbox Live notifications roared from the dormant Xbox 360 beneath her TV.

Abbey
still didn’t look satisfied. ‘And maybe your Twitter and Tinder accounts as
well. I’ve got all of them asking that one simple question; did you miss me?’

Tears
ran down Kara’s face. She held her hands to her ears. ‘Make it stop! Make it
stop!’

‘Make
it stop!’ Abbey said, imitating Kara’s voice. She laughed, before shifting to a
straight face. ‘Now you know how I felt when all your followers harassed me.
This is what they were like all day, every day for two weeks. Insanity, isn’t
it? You still haven’t answered my question though: did you miss me?’

Kara
couldn’t take it anymore. She screamed and ran out of her room. The popping
sounds followed her as she ran down her hallway to the kitchen. Abbey appeared
on her lounge room TV. The high definition made Abbey’s decaying appear more
detailed. ‘I really should be recording this for YouTube. It’d be the next
viral hit.’

Kara
looked around the room for relief. She saw the family telephone. Maybe she
could call someone to save her.

Abbey
looked on disapprovingly. ‘Hmmm, I don’t think so shit for brains. You see I
can enter into everything that is connected to the internet, including your
home phone.’

The
family landline started ringing. More tears fell from Kara’s eyes as the sounds
shredded the last of her sanity.

Abbey
laughed. ‘There is only one way to stop me, Kara. Look in the sink and you will
see the answer.’

Kara
looked at the knife in her kitchen sink and looked back at the home phone. One
of the cables ran towards the modem.

‘I
know what you’re thinking, and no, cutting that cord won’t do a thing. You
really think you could defeat me that easily?’

How
could Abbey know every thought in her head? What else could she do with that
knife to stop Abbey?

‘You
look confused, let me give you a hint.’ said Abbey. ‘These notifications will
never stop for as long as you’re alive.’

Kara
tried not to listen to Abbey, but the urge came to her. She started to believe
it’d be the only escape from Abbey and all the notifications.

‘That’s
right, Kara,’ said Abbey, ‘now point that knife at your throat and stab at it, just
like I did.’

Abbey
pulled down the neck of her tattered jumper, exposing a gaping bloody slice
where her jugular used to be. Worms chewed the flesh within the wound.

‘What
are you waiting for? You know death is the only escape from me, I told you that
even when I was alive. What are you waiting for? Do it!’

Kara
drove the knife into her throat. A starburst of blood exploded across the
kitchen as she pulled the blade out. The blood felt wet and warm against her
icy skin.

The
notifications stopped. Abbey laughed. ‘That is for lying to the internet about
me.’

Kara fell down the side of the counter,
choking and gurgling on her blood. Her vision had begun to fade. The last thing
she saw was Abbey’s face on the TV slowly fading along with the laughter.

Before she lost consciousness,
Kara thought about what Abbey had said.

That's for lying to the internet about me.

How could Abbey call it lying?
All she was doing was trying to stand up for herself and not be a victim, how
could that be considered lying?

The last thing she heard was
Abbey’s voice saying the four words that sealed her fate.

Did
you miss me?

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
TheShadowKingofDawn

Kiz16:
After a truly shocking start to the story, I found the style and content slowed down as the author introduced a varied group of characters who I thought were fleshed out very well. After a slow couple of chapters, I found this story difficult to leave with the tension growing within the house. Yo...

heich:
Excellent story and excellent writing style. I hope in the future read your works.The story you present is innovative, fresh, different from everything else and let a feeling that you know you want to read more of it. I hope you continue moving in the same, because he's smart and only you know wh...

Deleted User:
This is an artfully-written horror story which deals with the most frightening monsters in the entire history of the macabre: teenagers. Indeed, the author captures the speech, relationships, and general highly-charged, petty, and competitive atmosphere of high school so well, that you would swea...

:
This story was gripping and very professionally written. With lots of twists and slight of hand tricks, the author deceives the reader until finally showing their cards at the end. With several subplots all intertwining to create the main plot, this really is an interesting and engaging read.

:
The book was hella great. You never know what's going to happen next. There's a lot of clues that shows to the next scene. I thought Miley and David would marry each other in this book but too my disappointment, they didn't. I have a ques. Will there be a part two to this book?

Ben Gauger:
Kudos to Bryan Laesch, author of Remnants of Chaos:Chaotic Omens for his use of the Gothic style of writing and in addition the footnotes and endnotes at the end of each chapter, a welcome accompaniment to be sure, though his use of grammar could use a little improving, but his use of punctuation...

duggsy:
This kept me intrigued, I only intended on reading 1 chapter but couldn't stop until I'd read the whole thing. The only let-down were a few spelling mistakes hence the 3 stars but otherwise a great read.

Bradley Darewood:
I really really really liked this. I just voted for you!The voice is flawless-- I can't write men as well as you do and I have a penis. Maybe I'm narcissistic but I particularly enjoyed the moment where he muses about how artists would do better in such a solitary job. But my favorite moment ...

skippybash12:
This story has engaging characters that you care about and a plot that is unpredictable and exciting. It is well written with a believable voice. Great weekend escape and if there was a sequel available I would buy it today -